Various types of inductor plates have been used for allowing pumps to remove viscous material from pails, drums and barrels over the years. Such plates are typically fitted with some sort of seal which is truly only usable in one type of container and requires either seal replacement or a different inductor for different containers (even those of the same general type and size.)
For instance, in five gallon pails, there are varieties manufactured with both straight and tapered sides. The past prior art devices have been manufactured by any number of manufacturers including The Aro Corporation and Graco Inc., the Assignee of the instant invention. While the Aro product has utilized a dual wiper assembly for accommodating tapered pails, such is less than ideal when utilized in ram or cart applications for pumping out of straight sided pails.
Each combination of pail type (straight or tapered) and application (ram or cart mounted) requires its own specific wiper plate characteristics for optimum performance.
Most of these generally have a pump mounted on top of the inductor plate. Cart mounted units merely utilize the weight of the inductor plate and the pump to press the plate downward into the material and insure feeding of the pump. In addition, a vacuum is created inside the pail as material is drawn into the pump which further assists in drawing the pump and wiper plate downward.
For extremely viscous material such as higher viscosity mastics, silicones and sealants, a so-called ram unit typically utilizes an externally applied force to force the pump and inductor plate downwardly into the container thereby increasing pressures in the pail and insuring proper loading of the pump.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a wiper plate assembly which is suitable for varying types of pails including the aforementioned straight and tapered pails in both cart and ram configurations. It is further an object of this invention to provide a wiper plate assembly which may be easily adjusted to accommodate the varying desired configurations.